Under the Rain
by hakanaii
Summary: Annie came out of the arena with her mind in tact, sort of.
1. Chapter 1

Annie receives an envelope, sealed with the Panem emblem on the sixteenth Tuesday before the Reaping. She doesn't hesitate to slide her finger under the cool, red wax and jerk the letter from it's encasing despite Finnick's reserve; or when she declares she will take up her duties as a Mentor. It's what Victors do.

Annie takes her role very seriously, greeting her tribute stoically and addressing the straight-laced Tribute only when needed. The first words she speaks when stepping off the train are with the stylist, plotting a strategy that will bring The Girl home. And when Training Week passes and she sits before the monitors of the District 4 station in Mentor Central, Annie says a word to no one. There is no need, she's not here to make friends.

But the boisterous sounds of cannons firing, drunken slurs and hollow laughs has her hyper aware that this is not just a place of business. It's much like a clubhouse for all the victors to congregate once a year. It is almost sweet.

"So, those are your friends." Annie turns to Finnick the moment they settle in the District 4 suite of the Training Center. A long first day in the arena has passed with both their tributes barely grazed by the knives being thrown at the Cornucopia.

"Don't let them intimidate you, they're good people," Finnick says with a weak smile.

Annie hums in reply, eyes rolling up to the ceiling. If you told her twelve months ago she would live to see these walls again, she wouldn't believe you. Her eyes snap downwards and lay rest on her shaking hands. Clasping them over one another, she focuses on her breathing.

"Y'know, they can be your friends too now." Finnick slides a little closer, his hand clutching at the leather backing of the couch a little tighter. Annie eyes him in her peripheral.

"That's alright, you and Mags are enough," she says with a shrug, putting another inch of space between him. He's caught off guard by her words, frozen as the weight of their meaning churns and settles.

Reaching out across the cushions, Finnick plucks her hands out from around one another to sift his fingers through her own and gives her hand a gentle squeeze. "Just don't shut them out okay? They can help."

Help with what she doesn't know but Annie nods as she squeezes his hand back.

When she walks back into Mentor Central the following day, Finnick on her heels, she greets Wiress and Beetee with a soft hello before settling into her worn leather chair. The smile that stretches across Finnick's face when Annie turns to look at him is brighter than she has ever seen. She wasn't here to make anymore friends but it wouldn't hurt to make the ones she has happy.


	2. Chapter 2

She thinks a walk would be good. Though there are only a handful of them left, Mentor Central was getting a little stuffy.

Annie let her feet carry her whichever direction they so choose; refusing to let her mind do any unnecessary thinking. Not thinking keeps the flashbacks at bay and allows sleep to come readily. Haymitch told her she'll need a better coping strategy; the irony of his words were not lost on her.

She walks with seafoam painted toes and gold sandaled feet down the corridor towards the elevator. The carroll shoots her straight to the main lobby, where with her head held high, she leaves the building.

A single drop of something touches her cheek but when Annie looks up nothing seems to have interrupted the perfect Capitol weather. Moving on, a spring finds its way into her step as she bounds down the brightly coloured cobblestones along the winding path. She hops from the lavender stones to the baby blue ones in a zigzag pattern until the lavender stones fade to fuscia.

Another drop of something wet falls, this time on the tip of her nose. Drawing her eyes back up to the sky, a dark thick cloud had formed so suddenly Annie contemplates just how long she's been out on her walk. But the rain doesn't stop her. She's a Victor; she can handle much more than a little rainstorm.

Bouncing from green to pink to blue and twirling around to touch her toes on the lone yellow stone every six pink ones, Annie lets them lead her to the wrought-iron gate of a quaint park. Above the spearheaded points proudly stands a lusciously green willow tree.

She journeys into the park, heading straight towards the willow with her floating steps.

She ignores the rain that falls systematically. Almost like they are purposefully avoiding touching her skin a third time. Maybe something is scared of Annie's wrath. Good.

The shield does not last long. Rain drenches Annie from head to toe and making her translucent, violet sundress a long, dark sheet of soggy fabric. With the humidity reaching a new high by Capitol standards, the rain feels glorious against her sweat-soaked skin. Laughter filling her lungs as heartedly as air. She wants to let her mind wander to home, where the humidity and the rain come every summer without fail. But that requires thinking.

Lackadaisically strolling through the soppy grass, her feet wading in puddles of water that flood her sandals, allows her to enjoy the rain in it's entirety. Reaching that beautiful, expansive willow hanging, she rushes under its sodden canopy. Once more, protected from the rain. The surrounding air smells sweet yet stale like the array of colourful aromas that waft off the Capitol elite. Is there not one thing in this city that is not captured in a sickly sweet fantasy?

Stepping further into the center of the tree, Annie leans against the moss-slicked bark of the trunk. It's thick, lime-green moss that clings to the rocks by the ocean back home. She embraces the familiarity by pressing her nose into the slimey plant life and inhaling.

"At least moss still smells like moss," she tells herself.

It comes all at cold, dark, dreary cave spots her vision. Her stomach desperate for food while mind screams that if she takes one step out into that greenery she is as good as dead. Head severed from her shoulders just like Ellery's.

Bile rises through her throat as the image Ellery's headless body crashes to the arena floor. Annie wretches all over the base of the tree. Whether she's trembling from the cold or the horror she's not sure, but she needs to leave. Get out of this candy-floss city that made her think.

The branches parting has Annie's evergreen eyes wide, dazzling with terror that does not subside when a drenched Finnick comes into view. Every piece of clothing lays limp on his body as he shuffles toward her; eyes heavy with relief when he finally grasps a hold of her wrist and pulls her into his embrace.

She fights the arms that bind her, getting them to release her almost too easily.

"I-I'm sorry, I was just…worried." Finnick takes a step back, his arms dropping to his sides. "When Gloss said you left…I thought you went for dinner without me."

That's right, they have a dinner with the CEO and CFO of some pharmaceutical company. She has no idea what the married couple would be interested in when it comes to her and Finnick. With the Games nearing their end and sponsors being more than generous this year they couldn't possibly need more money, could they?

"I needed to go for a walk."

"In the rain?" he asks incredulously.

"It wasn't raining when I left," she replies drily.

"Ah."

"Yeah," Annie says, eye flickering up to the dripping canopy. "So, you got worried and came looking for me?"

"Pretty much."

"Without a coat? Aren't you cold?"

"I'm okay. You?"

Annie shrugs.

"Do you…um…want to go?" Finnick reaches out to her again.

"Not really. But I don't really want to stay here either." There was nowhere left to go. Every last crevice is tainted with sickly images and pungent smells leaving no place left for thought.

"The whole 'not thinking' strategy catch up with you?" He asks with the smallest smile peeking through. Clenching her fists, Annie wants to throw one of them right into Finnick's smug face. But she refrains.

"Don't worry, I won't say anything to anyone. Might I suggest something else?" He takes a wary step closer to her. Annie lets him close the space between them, intrigued that he may have a better solution. Finnick had been playing this game longer than she has.

"What?" she retorts with more edge that she means to.

"Talk to me." Finnick weaves his fingers through hers. His hand is like ice as it subtly trembles but his chattering teeth give him away. Such a stupid man. Drawing him up against her, Annie tries to share some of her body heat but his soaking wet clothes absorb it. "I know that talking means you have to think a bit but maybe this way you don't have to carry the burden alone."

He could catch pneumonia standing here like this and yet all he can think is her. Such a stupidly selfless man.

"Okay," Annie agrees grasping onto the back of his shirt tighter as her head finds this crevice in the juncture of his neck that fits perfectly. "Just as long you don't stay out here any longer."

"Will you be coming with me?" He mumbles into her crown of tangled hair. One gentle nod has their feet moving, with Finnick as their guide, out of the cascade of willow leaves and through the drenched grass to the front gate. A long, black car waits for them beyond the open wrought iron doors. Upon opening the door, Finnick ushers her in first and wraps her in the first blanket he touches before joining her.

Once Finnick settles in with his own blanket and closes the door, their chauffeur carefully drives off down the slick roads. Finding that place between his neck and shoulder, Annie rests her head back down and breathes in his scent, a mixture of rain, sweat and sea salt. And it's as if nothing exists as the rhythmic motions of the car, the patter of rain, and Finnick Odair's scent erase the thoughts that flutter in her mind.

Maybe there is one place left to go.


End file.
